1. Technical Field
The invention relates to fraud prediction on a computer network. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for a merchant profile builder that is used in predicting fraud in credit card transactions worldwide.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the following discussion, the term “credit card” is used for illustrative purposes; however, the techniques and principles discussed herein apply to other types of customer accounts, such as charge cards, bank automated teller machine cards, debit cards, telephone calling cards, and the like.
Frequently, credit card issuers conventionally attempt to limit fraud losses by immediately closing a customer's account upon receiving a report that the card has been lost or stolen. Typically, the customer's credit information is then transferred to a new account and a new card is issued. This procedure is only effective in limiting fraudulent use of lost or stolen or counterfeit cards after the loss or theft has been reported to the issuer.
Fraud detection models have been developed and enhanced over time to improve credit card fraud detection. For example, Fair Isaac Corporation's line of Falcon™ products uses information from the transaction as well as cardholder profiles in the various predictive models to assess fraud risk. However, in any sort of transaction, there are actually two parties involved at the point of transaction as a point of sale. One is the cardholder and the other is the merchant. So, if fraud detection techniques incorporate cardholder profiles, then why not develop and incorporate merchant profile technology as well?
Therefore, it would be advantageous to develop and use merchant profiles consisting of merchant profile informational data to improved credit card fraud detection.